FROM THIS EPISODE

Tensions reached a new high today in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel is mobilizing troops on the border of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile Hamas has been firing rockets into southern Israel. Earlier this week, Israel raided Palestinian territory and dropped bombs on Gaza. This military confrontation comes in the wake of 4 lurid deaths of teenagers, children really, 3 on the Israeli side, 1 on the Palestinian side, all caught in a spiral of recriminations and political maneuvering which have sparked the worst violence in Jerusalem in years. Does the abandonment of a peace process mean more violence ahead? Can the US do anything to relieve the tensions?

Also, the US unemployment rate drops, and scientists say that your face reveals not just how hard you’ve lived, but also how long you’ll live in the future.

Banner Image: Palestinians hurl stones during clashes with Israeli police in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 2, 2014. The discovery of a body in a Jerusalem forest on Wednesday raised suspicions that a missing Palestinian youth had been killed by Israelis avenging the deaths of three abducted Jewish teens. Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem after the news, but no serious injuries were reported. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The numbers are going down and the economy may be looking up. The unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest point since the peak of the recession in September 2008. The economy added 288,000 jobs last month, lowering the joblessness rate to just 6.1%, and the stock market seems to be celebrating these numbers with the Dow Jones hitting an all-time high of 17,000. To figure out what all these numbers mean, we turn to Tori Stilwell, a reporter with Bloomberg News.

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians reached new heights today in the wake of killings of teenagers on both sides of the divide in the West Bank. This morning Israel began to mobilize troops in the area of the Gaza strip; reportedly it’s in response to a sharp increase in shelling by Hamas into Israeli territory over the last 24 hours. The current flare-up of violence was sparked by 2 brutal incidents: first the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers near Hebron in the West Bank, followed by what some describe as a revenge killing of a young Palestinian boy from East Jerusalem.

Imagine a future where facial recognition not only confirms a person’s identity, but also predicts how long they’ll live. Well, a new project called “Face My Age” does just that... from a single photograph. That means doctors could use this technology to motivate patients to live healthier lives, but insurance companies could also abuse it. Jay Olshansky is a biodemographer and professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He came up with the idea of to use facial recognition technology in this way.